DOWN THE WORKSHOP
1976 ALPINE A310
Current owner: Jim Valentine It came from a TV programme
Jim Valentine: “It was the star of a Wheeler Dealers TV show. The production company failed to find a buyer on the show. I needed another car like a hole in the head (and wallet) but I’d made a very low offer on the car. They’d snorted and said no way.”
He finally got it
“There the deal sat, but about once a month someone would ring wondering if I wanted to pay more. The calls died down and then, three months after the last call, there was another conversation and I owned an A310. I had to hide it in a barn for three months before I could find an opportune moment to confess to my wife and family that I’d bought another car. We have two cats as a result of the ‘exchange of views’ that followed.”
The engine let go
“At Castle Combe it put up an oil warning light briefly as it turned right at Quarry Corner. It seemed to be running fine, I checked the oil level and went out again, and it did it on every lap. Five laps later the light came up, this time with expensive noises as they’d clearly fried the head gaskets in filming the show. We’d anticipated the engine letting go at some point, just not so soon.”
It has been a challenge
“Being a fibreglass body with a central spine chassis I didn’t much fancy crashing in the car. So, a rollcage was built by Peter at Fabricage. In the original car the front seats were bolted through the fibreglass floor on four 10mm bolts. Peter couldn’t actually find a solid part of the car to mount the cage on. It’s a credit to his creativity that it is effectively mounted on itself while also providing proper protection underneath, a frame for a sump guard and proper seat mountings.”
It was crashed…
“It has taken a lot of work to get the car to where it is now, in large part thanks to Alpine specialist John Law. We’d gone from 97th to 71st on the East Riding Stages when we fell off. The sump guard was too close to the floor and lifted one wheel, we think, just as I went back on the power. That took us into the hedge, I turned the car further into the hedge to avoid a telegraph pole and the car spat back on to stage. Debris was thrown impressive distances from the car.”